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March 19, 2008 LA Weekly story
July 15, 2006
Why a sophisticated collection of Indian artifacts may end up over by the L.A. Zoo...
Scott Rubel's slideshow documenting the Funeral for the Southwest Museum event...July 15, 2006 Charity Industry Observer BLOG
LA Museum Merger Leads to Custody Battle Three Years Later...June 29, 2006 Associated Press
Indian museum closes amid controversy, artifacts to be transferred to Autry
By Peter Prengaman, Associated Press WriterJune 28, 2006 New York Times
Gene Autry's Legacy and an Indian Museum Merge (and Collide)...June 22, 2006 CityBeat
Southwest SquabbleMarch 21, 2006 — L.A. Times
Southwest faces major repair jobAugust 19-25, 2005 L.A. Weekly
Cowboys and Indians— Gene Autry vs. Southwest Museum: Piracy or preservation?
by ROBERT GREENE...June 20, 2005 Press Release
GROUP SEEKS TO BLOCK AUTRY’S GRIFFITH PARK EXPANSIONMarch 7, 2005 Los Angeles Times
"Autry picks Texas design firm"City of Los Angeles' 2003 motion
—passed unanimously— to preserve Southwest Museum...February 23, 2003 letter from the Autry Center
Promises Broken: see the crucial original 2003 letter
which shows what Autry originally committed to do
in order to secure the support of the Coalition...February 2, 2003 LA Times
Treasure of the Arroyo Seco: The Southwest Museum...
Autry picks Texas design firm
By Suzanne Muchnic
Times Staff Writer
From: Los Angeles Times
Calendar Section, March 7, 2005
The Autry National
Center — formed two years ago by a merger of the Museum of the American
West (formerly the Autry Museum of Western Heritage) and the Southwest
Museum of the American Indian — has selected Overland Partners Architects
to develop a master plan and design a greatly expanded facility for its
10-acre campus in Griffith Park. A major portion of the project will be
devoted to displaying and storing the Southwest Museum's vast collection
of art and artifacts, amassed at its historic home on Mount Washington.
"We chose Overland Partners because of they way they think,"
Autry President and CEO John L. Gray said of the San Antonio, Texas-based
firm. "They understand the Autry National Center's large idea —
that a convergence of diverse cultures shaped the American West. We think
they will develop a design that will allow the value of that idea to come
through."
Overland was singled out in a search that narrowed a slate of 17 firms
to four finalists. The others are Michael Maltzan Architecture and Lake/Flato
of Los Angeles and Antoine Predock of Albuquerque. Currently working on
a Chickasaw Indian Nation cultural center in Sulphur, Okla., Overland
has designed the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, a master
plan for the San Antonio Museum of Art, and The Wildlife Experience, a
museum near Denver. "We have been involved in a lot of cultural projects
that tell pieces of the story of the West," said Bob Shemwell, a
principal at Overland Partners. "The Autry is a unique place where
all those pieces come together and you see the whole picture."
Overland's plan, to be presented to the Autry board of trustees by the
end of the year, will enlarge the existing 148,000-square-foot building
by at least 100,000 square feet.
The new structure will include about 20,000 square feet of galleries,
30,000 square feet of storage and a 50,000-square-foot study center that
will house the two museums' libraries. Construction is expected to begin
in 2006 and continue for two or three years.
The Autry is engaged in a $100-million fundraising drive to increase its
endowment, renovate the Southwest's building and expand the Griffith Park
facility. The budget for the Griffith Park project is being developed,
the architects and museum representatives said.
[press release]
Autry National Center Commissions Overland Partners Architects
to Design New Buildings and Galleries at Los Angeles Campus
Design will highlight collection of Southwest Museum of the American Indian
and expand Center’s Research Institute and Library
LOS ANGELES (March
7, 2005) — The Autry National Center has selected Overland Partners
Architects, an award-winning firm based in San Antonio, Texas, to develop
a master plan and design new buildings and expanded galleries for the
multicultural history center’s campus in Los Angeles’s Griffith
Park. The project will physically merge the multiple institutions that
have come together in recent years to form the Autry National Center.
A large portion of the Autry’s expansion will be dedicated to the
Southwest Museum of the American Indian, quintupling the gallery space
currently devoted to its world-class collection.
Overland Partners was awarded the commission after a focused search for
an architectural firm with proven experience in designing museums, working
with natural materials, and designing sustainable buildings. Overland’s
portfolio includes the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin,
Texas; a seven-phase master plan for the San Antonio Museum of Art featuring
new wings to house the museum’s collections of Latin American and
Asian art; The Wildlife Experience, an art and conservation museum near
Denver; a transit center for Grand Canyon National Park; and a cultural
center in Sulphur, Oklahoma, to highlight the heritage of the Chickasaw
Indian Nation.
“The architects of Overland Partners understand and celebrate the
convergence of diverse cultures that shapes the American West, and can
translate that convergence into a design for the Autry National Center
that is respectful of the past, enduring for the future, and connected
to the earth,” said John L. Gray, President and CEO of the Autry
National Center.
Overland Partners has been charged with creating a master plan for the
Center’s 10-acre campus in Griffith Park that incorporates new buildings
with the Center’s existing facilities, chiefly the Museum of the
American West. Opened in 1988, the museum’s existing 148,000-sq.-ft.
structure along Interstate 5 expresses the California Mission style in
a contemporary context.
Overland will work over the coming months to design an expansion comprising
approximately 20,000 sq. ft. of galleries to exhibit and interpret the
collection of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, an arm of the
Autry National Center that is currently located about seven miles southeast
of the Griffith Park campus in the Mt. Washington area of Los Angeles.
An additional 30,000 sq. ft. of underground storage at the Griffith Park
campus will securely house the remainder of the Southwest’s collection,
most of which will be visible to museum visitors.
The Southwest’s cramped buildings in Mt. Washington, dating to 1914,
have deteriorated to a point that threatens the museum’s holdings.
Relocating to Griffith Park will result in more than five times the current
gallery space to showcase a collection of Native American art and artifacts
that is considered one of the largest and most significant in the world.
Los Angeles architect Brenda Levin and urban planner Fred Glick are exploring
potential future uses of the 12-acre Mt. Washington campus, whose buildings
are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
In Griffith Park, approximately 50,000 sq. ft. of the Overland-designed
master plan will be dedicated to the Institute for the Study of the American
West, with large spaces for the Autry Library and the collections of the
Braun Library, which is currently located at the Mt. Washington site.
Incorporated as well will be classrooms, seminar and symposium rooms,
and research offices for the Institute’s scholars.
A new visitor services center and an expanded museum store and cafe will
also be components of the new design. Anticipating growth beyond this
first phase, the master plan will include plans for an expansion of the
exhibition space and storage for the Museum of the American West. The
master plan will be devised to have minimal impact on the Griffith Park
campus’s lawn and other natural areas.
“These new buildings will help fulfill the Autry’s mission
to be an accessible, enlightening, inspiring, and nationally respected
center of exploration of the American West. Moving the Southwest’s
art and artifacts to a larger space, with the participation and guidance
of the Native American community, will provide a proper home for the extraordinary
collection,” said Autry National Center Trustee Tally Mingst, who
served on the architectural selection committee. “Overland Partners’
extensive work for cultural institutions demonstrates their understanding
of how architecture can tell multiple stories and offer a variety of experiences
to visitors.”
To select an architect, a committee of Autry trustees and staff reviewed
17 responses to a request for qualifications sent out in September 2004.
The field was winnowed to six, and committee members and staff visited
the offices and past projects of the firms. In late November, four finalists
were asked to develop a presentation: Overland Partners, Michael Maltzan
Architecture of Los Angeles, Lake/Flato Architects of San Antonio, and
Antoine Predock Architect of Albuquerque. All four firms sent representatives
to visit the Autry and tour the buildings and collections, and, in turn,
selection committee members and staff visited more of the architects’
past projects. In early February, the finalists returned to the Griffith
Park campus to present their approaches to a design solution for an education
pavilion.
“Overland Partners will collaborate with the Autry National Center
to create a new facility that weaves individual threads of diverse cultures
into a unified architectural expression of the Center’s mission,”
said Tim Blonkvist, FAIA, a principal at Overland Partners. “To
better integrate the Autry with the landscape of Griffith Park, my partners
and I plan to use natural materials extensively, in a way very much in
keeping with the story that the Autry is trying to tell.”
Overland will begin work immediately on designs for the Autry National
Center, with the goal of presenting a final design to the Autry’s
Board of Trustees by the end of 2005. Construction is anticipated to begin
in 2006.
# # #
Contacts:
Massie Ritsch Jay Aldrich
Sugerman Communications Group Autry National Center
310.689.7538 323.667.2000, ext.329
massie@sugermangroup.comjaldrich@autrynationalcenter.org
Websites:
www.autrynationalcenter.org
www.overlandpartners.com
[press release]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Eliot Sekuler 818-535-9178
GROUP SEEKS
TO BLOCK AUTRY’S
GRIFFITH PARK EXPANSION
Friends of the Southwest
Museum Coalition Enlists Villaraigosa’s Support
In Preventing Development on City Land, Obtaining Autry’s Commitment
To Southwest Museum’s Mount Washington Operations
Los Angeles CA, June 20, 2005—
The Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition, an umbrella group representing
over 75 organizations, will seek to block the Autry National Center’s
plans for expansion in Griffith Park and has sought the assistance of
Mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa in preventing the Autry from further
development on the city-owned property.
In a letter delivered to the Autry’s board, the Coalition re-stated
demands for legally binding commitments to the continuing permanent operations
of Mount Washington’s Southwest Museum of the American Indian, Los
Angeles’ oldest museum, as well as two related institutions, the
Braun Library and the Casa De Adobe, all acquired by the Autry in a 2003
merger that allowed the Autry to assume control of the Southwest Museum’s
collection of over 250,000 rare artifacts, artworks and objects of archaeological
interest.
The Coalition has demanded that any further Griffith Park development
be tied to the Autry’s obligatory assumption of responsibility to
maintaining and operating the Mount Washington facilities and asks that
the Autry seek alternatives to the construction of its proposed new 100,000
sq. ft. building.
In re-stating their demands, The Coalition members cited research conducted
by three outside consultants, two commissioned by the Autry and one by
the Coalition. The findings of the three studies indicate that the restoration,
maintenance and continuing operation of the historic facilities can be
accomplished on a sound economic basis.
The Southwest Museum is located within the boundaries of Villaraigosa’s
Council District 14 and the Mayor-elect has continually affirmed support
for the Coalition’s objectives of retaining the Southwest Museum
as a key cultural anchor for the City in Northeast Los Angeles. Addressing
a public meeting held during his recent election campaign, Villaraigosa
backed the Coalition’s goals and vowed he would hold the Autry to
commitments made by the Griffith Park museum to the Mount Washington facilities
at the time of the 2003 merger.
The Coalition’s demands were detailed in a position paper delivered
to the Autry board. Text of that paper follows:
Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition
Position Statement
The Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition (hereafter “the Coalition”),
which represents 75 organizations with membership totaling in excess of
100,000 persons, takes the following positions regarding the future of
the historic Southwest Museum, the Braun Library and the Casa de Adobe
(collectively hereafter referred to as “the Mt. Washington Campus”).
• In recognition of the enormous investment of public funds to construct
the Gold Line’s Southwest Museum station and because the Autry National
Center (hereafter “ANC”) pays only $1 per month rent for city-owned
land at the Griffith Park site, the ANC Board must make a legally-binding
commitment to take responsibility for the Mt. Washington Campus, in perpetuity,
as a condition of developing any new facilities at the Griffith Park site.
• The Coalition’s strongly held position is that the Mt. Washington
Campus must remain as a museum and an on-going public destination. We
recognize that other revenue enhancements that encourage incremental public
use may need to be added to the museum component, such as a restaurant,
amphitheatre, expanded retail, additional parking and site rental for
non-museum related events. Under no circumstances are these other uses
to be done as a replacement for the museums at the Mt. Washington Campus.
• The ANC must officially recognize its post-merger legal and moral
obligations to maintain and revitalize both the Collection and the Mt.
Washington Campus, which play an integral role in the cultural and economic
future of Los Angeles. Any fundraising by ANC must include sustainable
and equitable funding for the Mt. Washington Campus and the Collection.
• The Coalition rejects ANC’s interpretation of the Brenda
Levin Study. The Study actually supports the view that the Mt. Washington
Campus is economically feasible (also corroborated by a peer-to-peer review
commissioned by the Coalition). The Coalition asks ANC to accept the Levin
study as a basis for a real Master Plan.
• The Coalition must take part in any decision-making process for
future uses of the Mt. Washington Campus. We insist that a comprehensive
ANC Master Plan be developed which includes the Mt. Washington Campus.
ANC must adhere to its past agreements to hold a public process as part
of the Master Plan.
• As part of the Master Plan process, ANC shall conduct a programmatic
study that details what ANC needs to fulfill its vision for the Mt. Washington
Campus and the Griffith Park site. This should include viable attendance
goals for both locations.
• The Mt. Washington Campus and its priceless art and artifacts
(hereafter “the Collection”) are vital resources to the City
of Los Angeles. The Collection is an inherent part of the Mt. Washington
Campus and it shall remain culturally identified to it. ANC cannot divest
of the Mt. Washington Campus without the complete Collection being a part
of any such divestiture.
• The Southwest Museum in Mt. Washington must be ANC’s primary
location for the exhibition, for education and activities related to the
Collection.
• ANC must engage in consumer research, consistent with institutional
standards and foster the development of programs to enhance the continued
public appeal at the Mt. Washington Campus.
• Innovative museum activities that present the Museum in a new
dynamic way are welcomed as long as they remain connected to -- or based
upon – the Collection. Successful, signature events on the Mt. Washington
Campus must continue to be presented. These include (but are not limited
to) the Intertribal Marketplace, Las Posadas, the annual rug sale and
the Museums of the Arroyo Day.
• Should there be an extension of the Southwest Museum in Griffith
Park, the Mt. Washington Campus shall be marketed as a distinct entity
from the Griffith Park site. The identity, content and programming of
the Mt. Washington Campus must remain consistent with the original vision
of its founder, Charles Lummis.
• ANC and the City of Los Angeles must perform due diligence in
seeking other options/sites for the proposed 100,000 sq. ft. facility
at Griffith Park. Options explored might include building on the Mt. Washington
Campus as well as other cost-effective alternatives including sites in
the Northeast business corridors of Cypress Park, Eagle Rock, Glassell
Park and Highland Park.
read the Brenda Levin feasibility study...
sign the petition...